Sony Fanboys, the worst kind?

I previous wrote about the Sony fanboys being the worst, this is a follow on rant. Understand, as a Sony user, this is the one thing that frustrates me, and there isn’t that much to complain about with Sony. As time goes on, I can’t help feeling Sony has become the BMW of camera companies, attracting the worst kinds of owners, the kinds of owners the rest of us Sony users don’t want to be associated with. In the case of BMW (at least in Australia), it was the kinds of drivers that are selfish, opinionated, arrogant, never use their indicators, think that speed limits don’t apply to them, and think they can park in the handicapped zone because they can afford a decent car. It’s the crossover of a select few where having a little money turns them into an immediate douchebag. 90% of BMW drivers seem perfectly capable of buying a BMW and behaving like normal human being but the 10% are scraped from the bottom of the gene pool.

Sony seems to be attracting the photography equivalent of BMW drivers. I never saw this quantity of these douchebags owners in my Nikon or Fujifilm circles. It’s like the douchebag owners from all the other brands have banded together with one brand and Sony is that brand. Maybe it’s Sony’s success in recent years that has attracted them, with these kinds of people being the first to jump to Sony. Whatever the reason they seem to have arrived at Sony, the douchebags of the camera world are here in full force. If you’re a Sony user, don’t take offence, it’s not all the Sony owners, but the numbers seem disproportionately high compared to other brands.

You’ll find these douchebags being arrogant about any post that doesn’t meet their taste in the Sony Rumours groups on Facebook, or anyone who dared to claim that a non-G Master lens is any good. Some novice can put up their first portrait and they’ll be there making some sarcastic comment on it as if they somehow managed to jump from novice to professional without taking any bad photos. They also be there to remind you that no lens is as good as a G Master, and nothing else is worth buying, no matter what your skill level, as if they are comparing appendages to see who has the largest set of G Master boxes. These Facebook groups have now become virtually intolerable thanks to their behaviour and a lack of strong moderation. Ironically, it’s many of these same people that seem to have an appreciation for the bad soft porn that seems to be prevalent from wannabe portrait photographers who think that shooting a semi naked lady with their new 135 G Master will immediately earn them critical acclaim, whilst their fellow douchebags show their appreciation with the sort of sexist comments that would be at home in the 1950s.

You’ll also find some of them on other forums like dpreview but due to the higher quality of moderation you’ll find them manifesting themselves in a different way, normally the mediocre photographers pretending to have a need for the sharpest lenses ever made due to their “high” standards as if they are the surgical equivalents of photographers, effectively making their mediocre photos sharper, but still mediocre. Congratulations, you just invested $3,000 to take a better quality mediocre photo. I watched in awe (that’s sarcasm) as one member proceeded to lecture members how only the most amazing of the EF mount lenses are privileged enough to remain in his lens collection because he has such high standards, and how he regularly cleans out the lenses that don’t meet the standard, the select few like he was building an Olympic team of lenses. With statements like this, you would have expected his skill level to be phenomenal, the Michelangelo of photography…nope. Just a run of the mill amateur photographer producing medicocre photos at best.

The other ways they often manifest themselves is in denial, adhering strictly to Sony’s 10 commandments, the first of which is never to say anything bad about Sony no matter what they do. If Sony released a 1MP camera with a max ISO of 200 at $10,000, these are the people who would be there to defend them to the death. Thou shalt not say anything nasty, no matter how true or false about Sony. Don’t like Sony’s menu? You’re wrong! Don’t like the ergonomics? You’re wrong! Don’t like the warning they put in about aftermarket batteries? You’re wrong! Someone will actually openly tell you that they haven’t actually switched between brands in the last 5 yearsand still think Sony’s menus are better than other brands. Yes, despite having nothing to compare it to, they are convinced they are right…maybe brainwashed is a better word for it.

These days I’ve stopped taking the bait. I add them to my ignore list, they can pat each other on the back and they aren’t worth the effort. In the case of Facebook, I wish the moderation standards were higher, not because I can’t put them on ignore, but because the sexist comments are not fair for the fairer sex. It’s one thing to be a douchebag, but being a sexist douchebag is far worse.

So if you are one of these users, it’s time to take a look at yourself. Better yet, go to Nikon or Canon so we don’t have to put up with you.

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I am a forty something year old Melbourne based photographer covering a broad range of genre’s from sports to portraits and travel.

My introduction into photography started with doing some kitesurfing photos, but with the arrival of my first daughter, my focus shifted to family and the vast majority of my photos are either family or street. I still try to get extreme sports when I am not kitesurfing myself.

My current non-personal photography work is confined to charity and not-for-profit engagements where I am engaged in photography for a number charity events to give back to the community and help support fund raising for these organisations. These include the homeless and cancer events.

I do not currently do any paid commercial work as I run a successful non-photography business and this allows me to explore my personal creativity with photography.

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6 Comments

I agree with your point of view 100%. But I’ve never participated in Facebook precisely because it attracts and enforces all the wrong personality types. These people need to be ignored because in photography as in most art forms, content triumphs over quality. That said, there are many Sony “fanboys” that have been attracted by the support of our old Minolta glass and investment in true innovation (as opposed to the CaNikon hegemony that existed 15-20 years ago). Wanting to avoid an economic loss has led me to continue with the Sony system. I’ve seen it go from a dearth of native lenses to a plethora – some good and some bad. So it comes down to different horses for different courses in terms of choosing the correct lens for the job given the camera body you are using. Opinions of people who spend most of their time polishing their lens collection instead of photographing aren’t worth listening to.

I’ve seen groups run well on Facebook, the A7/A9 Professionals is run a lot better because there is much better moderation in the group. Unfortunately the Sony Rumours ones have very little moderation, if they improved the moderation it would probably fix up some of the issues on their groups.

I couldn’t agree with you more, appalling behaviour and ignorance. Classic…buy an expensive camera and become an instant master photographer and expert. I retired ten years ago after nearly fifty years as a news cameraman and I’m still learning. Keep up the good work.

My wife is looking to get a BMW, so its not everyone, just the minority spoiling it for everyone. There are a few, all run by Sony Rumours which aren’t really moderated and they all have the same problem.

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